RUSSIA TESTS DIRECT-ASCENT ANTI-SATELLITE MISSILE - U.S. Space Command is aware and tracking Russia’s direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missile test April 15. “Russia’s DA-ASAT test provides yet another example that the threats to U.S. and allied space systems are real, serious and growing,” said Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, USSPACECOM commander and U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations. “The United States is ready and committed to deterring aggression and defending the Nation, our allies and U.S. interests from hostile acts in space.”   More
(Source: Spacecom - Apr 16)

ROCKET LAB INKS DEAL TO CARRY JAPANESE STARTUP SYNSPECTIVE’S FIRST SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - The well-funded Japanese space startup Synspective has tapped launch provider Rocket Lab to take its first Earth observation satellite to orbit. Launch is planned for late 2020, and the company’s StriX–α craft will be the sole payload. Synspective was founded in 2018 and by mid-2019 had raised about $100 million, making it one of the most successful recent funding stories in the country. It’s going to need all that and more, though, to realize its ambition of a 25-satellite constellation regularly imaging the whole planet.   More
(Source: TechCrunch - Apr 15)

FLORIDA LAUNCH RANGE REMAINS OPEN; FALCON 9 MISSION POSTPONED - Range personnel at Cape Canaveral will employ physical distancing, face covers and other cautionary measures to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus during launch operations, the commander of the U.S. military’s 45th Space Wing said. But the next launch from Cape Canaveral has been postponed from Thursday until no earlier than next week, sources said. SpaceX is planning to fire off a Falcon 9 rocket with the next batch of Starlink Internet satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 15)

RUSSIA'S SOYUZ ROCKET PRODUCTION ON HOLD DUE TO CORONAVIRUS - Spaceflight, like every sector, is feeling effects from the spreading coronavirus pandemic, and that holds true in Russia as well, where manufacturing of its workhorse Soyuz rocket has halted, officials said. One of those rockets, a Soyuz 2.1a booster, most recently flew on April 9 to carry three astronauts to the International Space Station in a launch that was essentially unaffected by the pandemic. The news of the pandemic's impact on its production comes from an English-language transcript released on April 10 by Russia's government of a call held by President Vladimir Putin and a group of space center leaders.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 14)

L3HARRIS TO BEGIN PRE-LAUNCH WORK ON ‘WIDE FIELD OF VIEW’ MISSILE DEFENSE SATELLITE - A U.S. Space Force missile warning satellite, six years in the works, is nearly completed. The company that developed the sensor, L3Harris, received a $9.3 million contract on April 6 to maintain and prepare the satellite for launch in 2021. The contract is for pre-launch and post-launch services for the Wide Field of View missile detection satellite. L3Harris developed a staring sensor that was mounted on a satellite bus supplied by Millennium Space Systems, a subsidiary of Boeing.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 12)

ASTRONAUTS PREPARE TO RETURN FROM ISS TO WORLD TRANSFORMED BY CORONAVIRUS - Two Nasa astronauts expect a difficult return to a drastically changed world next week, after close to a year onboard the International Space Station. Andrew Morgan told reporters the ISS crew had tried to keep abreast of news regarding the coronavirus pandemic, but it was hard to comprehend what was really going on and what to expect when his nine-month mission ends next Friday.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Apr 12)

SOYUZ CREW DOCKS WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - With an absence of fanfare amid coronavirus safety protocols, an upgraded Russian Soyuz rocket making its first piloted flight blasted off from Kazakshstan Thursday carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut on a speedy four-orbit trip to the International Space Station. The Soyuz 2.1a booster’s first and core stage engines ignited on time at 4:05 a.m. EDT (1:05 p.m. local time), throttled up to full power and lifted the rocket smoothly away from its firing stand at the sprawling Baikonur Cosmodrome.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 10)

SATELLITE DATA REVEALS THE PANDEMIC'S EFFECTS FROM ABOVE - The Cusco region of Peru has about 1.2 million residents—and, like many locations on Earth, not nearly enough ventilators for the people who might require them during the ongoing pandemic. In an effort to stem the rate of Covid-19 infections, and therefore the need for medical equipment that doesn’t exist locally, the Peruvian government put the country on lockdown in mid-March. As in many places across the globe, that meant lots of people couldn’t do their work, which meant they couldn’t get paid.    More
(Source: WIRED - Apr 10)

LONG MARCH 3B CARRYING COMMERCIAL INDONESIAN SATELLITE FAILS - A Chinese Long March 3B rocket failed April 9 while attempting to launch a commercial communications satellite meant to provide broadcast and broadband services to Indonesia and beyond, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency. After lifting off from China’s inland Xichang launch center, the Long March 3B suffered a malfunction with its third stage, destroying Nusantara-2, a satellite China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC) built for an Indonesian joint venture between Pasifik Satelit Nusantara and Indosat Ooredoo.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 10)

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